Wednesday, June 14, 2017

What Would Trump Have To Do? - Grandpa Puts It In Perspective - Grandpa Is Italian And Knows About Priorities

A friend of mine was out to dinner with his Grandpa and his Grandpa's next door neighbor. The next door neighbor is a bigly Trump supporter.My friend's grandpa is one of my oldest friends. He was the best man at our civil ceremony when Kathy and I got married the first time. He's Italian in origin, as am I.Our civil wedding was earlier than we had planned because Kathy did not have health insurance and needed an operation to remove a basal cell carcinoma that was growing on her back shoulder. I had a state job and good insurance.We needed a witness and I called Frank who was in the middle of pouring concrete. Frank is a mason. He's always been a hard worker. He was also a Special Education teacher at the time.

Frank dropped everything and showed up in work clothes and boots covered in concrete. My "best man" stood there in concrete as a testament to our marriage. Marriage needs a good foundation and Frank brought the concrete to the wedding.So Nick was eating dinner with Frank and next door neighbor Joe. Joe was going on about Trump and Nick, having recently turned 22 and graduated college and starting law school in September, was challenging Joe and doing a good job on the issues - I said he was going to law school.

Joe was all over the place. When confronted on one absurdity with a pesky fact, he immediately jumped to another absurdity. This went on for a bit and then Frank, who, being Italian, had first finished his dinner, leaned into the table and looked Joe in the eye and asked, "what would Trump have to do for you to say anything negative about him?"Mind you, all this was taking place in a crowded family restaurant and as Nick and Joe started talking Trump, the restaurant got quieter and quieter. I suspect that being in New York on Long Island in Suffolk County, the restaurant was pretty much evenly divided between Trump supporters and Trump non-supporters.

Nick said when Frank asked his question you could hear a pin drop. Joe started his response by saying something about Hillary Clinton. Frank stopped him and said this has nothing to do with politics. He said his question was simple and he repeated it. "What would Trump have to do for you to say anything negative about him?"Joe was reduced to stammering and that effectively ended the discussion. I like this story. I like it for several reasons, not the least of which was an old (yes you are old now Frank, yes I know you still practice masonry) educated, hard working, stubborn, Italian man who had evolved through the 60s managed to put it all in perspective by asking a Trump supporter a simple question, for which, apparently, there was no answer.So next time you are confronted by a Trump supporter who is babbling, ask him/her a simple, non-political question. Ask him/her, "What would Trump have to do for you to say anything negative about him?"Holy Moly!